To the editors:

In "Hope for a New India," (Opinion, Mar. 2) Pooja Bhatia sets up a misleading, false dichotomy between a secular, tolerant Congress party and the supposedly intolerant Hindu nationalism which would lead to "oppression of India's...minorities."

In fact, it is the Congress party which has historically pandered to minority interests in return for votes and turned a blind eye to communal violence when minorities withdrew support. Congress's blatant non-intervention in anti-Sikh violence in the 1984 Punjab reprisal and anti-Muslim violence in the 1992 Bombay riots are ample evidence. The incidence of communal violence has actually gone down in the states where Hindu nationalism has replaced the hypocritical "secularism" of Congress. This is because "Hindutva," while being a more Hindu-centric view, most definitely does not entail oppression of minorities but rather just and equal treatment of all citizens irrespective of religion. Moreover, democracy will force Hindu nationalism to assume a more moderate, centrist stance as it gains power.

Bhatia calls the BJP's role in the Ayodhya mosque incident a "symbolic repudiation of syncretistic Indian history." One cannot judge 5,000 years of Hindu history by one exception, and this complex event must be understood in context.

Lastly, Bhatia mistakenly considers the entrance of Italian-born Sonia Gandhi an indicator of India's potential multiculturalism. Sonia Gandhi may be a loyal wife and a proper widow, but with no political experience whatsoever and negligible knowledge of India's needs, she has no place in Indian politics, and the Indian people know this: the enthusiasm of Sonia Gandhi's "record-breaking crowds" has not translated into votes in the current elections.

By failing to understand the historical reality of Congress rule and the platform of equal treatment for all citizens espoused by the BJP, Bhatia has presented a distorted caricature of the Indian political landscape. AKILESH PALANISAMY '98   March 4, 1998